The Colonel affected a gaiety he by no means felt.
"Well, what's your view?"
Joe was enthusiastic.
"Why, it's the finest example of Direct Action ever seen in this coontry. And it's been given by the Army officers!—That's what gets me."
"What's Direct Action?" asked the Colonel. The phrase in those days was unknown outside industrial circles.
"A strike, and especially a strike for political purposes," answered Joe. "General Gough and his officers have struck to prevent Home Rule being placed on the Statute Book. What if a Trade Union had tried to hold up the coontry same road? It's what A've always said," the engineer continued, joyously aggressive. "The officers of the British Army aren't to be trusted except when their own party's in power."
The Colonel walked on to the club.
There he found young Stanley Bessemere, just back from Ireland, sitting in a halo of cigar-smoke, the hero of an amused and admiring circle, recording his latest military exploits.
"We've got the swine beat," he was saying confidently between puffs. "The Army won't fight. And the Government can do nothing."
The Colonel turned a vengeful eye upon him.